Durham, Ontario teachers urged to make deal within 10 days

Oshawa trustee and Ontario public school board president questions why union is waiting

Oshawa This Week

DURHAM -- The McGuinty government appears unwilling to bow to mounting pressure for a truce in the fight with teachers.

Education Minister Laurel Broten said Friday she still wants local school boards and unions to hammer out a deal in the next 10 days, in spite of calls from within her own Liberal party and the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario not to impose new contracts after the Dec. 31 deadline.

ETFO President Sam Hammond promised his union will not step up job action or hold any more one-day strikes if the provincial government holds off on imposing new contracts until after the Liberal leadership convention Jan. 25 to 27.

The union proposes both sides step back from the brink until a new premier can sort it out. That approach was endorsed Friday by Liberal leadership contender MPP Eric Hoskins, and echoes a proposed "peace plan" made earlier this month by former education minister Gerard Kennedy. That makes two of the six contenders calling on the premier to dial down the volume on teacher troubles.

Mr. Hoskins added his voice to the call for a truce just hours after Mr. Hammond invited Ms. Broten to "take a pause, step back if you will, and allow us to work with the new premier to find a resolution."

Mr. Hoskins, who voted for Bill 115 as a member of McGuinty's cabinet, said Friday the labour crisis is "eroding the alliance we've built with our teachers, education workers and administrators" and called the ETFO offer a chance for government "to hit reset on negotiations..."

However, Ms. Broten released a statement Friday afternoon saying: "Today, I spoke with (union leaders) and urged them to use these final 10 days to focus their attention on working with local school boards. I am calling on the ETFO, OSSTF and CUPE leadership to...reach locally negotiated deals before the December 31st deadline."

Many expect Ms. Broten to begin imposing deals as early as Jan. 2.

Mr. Hammond stressed the impasse is not about money and teachers are willing to reach a deal that respects Ontario's fiscal reality.

If that's true, said the head of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, why not negotiate now?

"A new premier isn't going to change the economic reality, so if ETFO really has some realistic ideas, why wait another 30 days to put them forward?" asked OPSBA president and Oshawa Durham District School Board trustee Michael Barrett.

Senior government officials disputed Mr. Hammond's claim that ETFO hasn't made any monetary demands. Sources said that in brief high-level discussions last month, the union leader demanded the full restoration of the seniority grid with flexibility to find savings, including increasing class sizes, a 2 per cent raise to bring ETFO members to parity with OSSTF teachers, 10 days sick leave that can be banked -- Bill 115 cancelled banking of sick days -- and scrapping the three prescribed mandatory unpaid days.

Mr. Hammond also asked for a three-month period of non-monetary bargaining once those compensation matters were resolved, insiders say.

Tory Leader Tim Hudak would support that; he said the government should use the powers it has under Bill 115 to shut down teacher job actions before they even start.

In addition to slashing sick days and ending payout of unused sick days, Bill 115 limits bargaining rights and the right to strike, and freezes wages. It does allow for newer teachers to bump up their pay as they move through a salary grid.

ETFO has promised a one-day "political protest" in the new year should the government get heavy-handed, and public high school teachers have been voting this week on a similar action.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents some 55,000 school workers across the province in all school boards, also has threatened one-day strikes if Ms. Broten forces a contract on them after the deadline.
-- Torstar News Service